Real judgements, distilled
Court judgements broken down into the case type, how the decision played out, and the lesson worth remembering, with the full judgement available as a PDF.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreThe appellant, branded a "Goonda" with a history of fourteen old criminal cases (several ending in acquittal, others still pending or under investigation from 2007-2016), was placed under preventive detention after a 2018 murder case was registered against him, even though he had already been granted regular bail in that case due to the police's failure to file a charge-sheet in time. The Telangana High Court dismissed his challenge to the detention order, prompting this appeal.
The Supreme Court found that the detention order relied on stale, years-old cases with no live or proximate link to the decision to detain, and that the State's own counter-affidavit admitted the order was really based on just one still-uninvestigated 2018 case with no charge-sheet filed. The Court also found serious doubt about whether a key "confirmation order" extending the detention even existed on the date claimed, since it surfaced for the first time in an additional affidavit before the Supreme Court more than a year later and jail records showed no such order had ever been served on the detenu. Applying the principle from Kamarunnissa v. Union of India that detention cannot be used merely because someone has been released on bail, absent a real basis to believe they will re-offend, the Court held there was no reasonable basis for detaining the appellant. The appeal was allowed, the High Court's judgment was set aside, and the detention order was quashed.
Preventive detention, locking someone up without a full trial, is an extraordinary power that cannot rest on old, unconnected criminal history or on a bail grant alone; authorities must show a genuine, current, proximate threat, and any paperwork used to justify extending such detention must be verifiably real and properly served, not produced after the fact.
